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In his regular weekly YouTube address to Americans, President-elect Barack Obama announced broadband connectivity would be a top priority in a massive public works campaign he will direct while in office.
"It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption," he said. In terms of average internet speed, the US lags behind South Korea, Hong Kong, Sweden and Belgium and ranks fifth in the number of high broadband IPs per capita, according to a report from Akamai.
That same quarter, the number of new high-speed internet subscribers slowed to levels that were half the subscriber rate of 2Q07.
Obama hopes to boost broadband levels and speed by "renewing" the internet's infrastructure, promising that "every child" will have the chance to get online during his presidency.
The announcement follows news that the European Commission explored the possibility of availing broadband access to all Europeans by 2010, declaring it a "universal right."
And last week Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggested the US government auction off public airwaves to private companies on the condition that the winner provide a percentage of free internet access nationwide. The issue was put on the FCC's December agenda.
Under Martin's plan, however, there would be mandatory porn filters built in, which critics say is not only technologically impossible but may constitute as censorship.
The US government–or rather, the military–was the original funder of the internet. Its chain of linked computers in the 60s slowly grew into the world wide web in 1990. But while the US planted its seeds, China recently surpassed it as the nation with the most internet users, writes The Guardian. (Total internet use worldwide is 1.4 billion people.)
The growth of internet connectivity in other parts of the world does not necessarily represent a long-term slowdown in growth in north America and Europe. After several years of sluggish expansion, TeleGeography Research stated capacity has started speeding up, with growth rates hitting 63% last year.
